Writers of Today: Frank O'Connor

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Walter Kerr interviews Frank O'Connor.

Each volume of WRITERS OF TODAY is a dialogue between noted literary critic Walter Kerr and one of the best known writers of our time. Produced in the 1950s, these programs provide rare profiles of these men as they discuss contemporary literature and society at the time of their own writing peaks.

O'Connor defends the often maligned short story. He argues that a proper short story cannot 'be developed' into a longer work because novels revolve around an individual's relationship to society, and how that individual integrates into it. A short story, to O'Connor, is about an individual's relationship to other individuals, or to himself. O'Connor also points out the different uses of time in the long and short forms, and goes on to defend greater objectivity in writing, speaking against the 'mood' story, as he feels that mastery of the visible universe will ultimately result in its illumination.